$49 Cubieboard hits Indiegogo

Hardware hackers and DIY tinkerers, get your credit cards ready… the Cubieboard crew has kicked off its funding efforts over on Indiegogo. A handful of lucky supporters were able to snag their boards for pledges of as little as $19, though as of now all 160+ units that were discounted for early adopters have been snapped up. You can, however, still get your hands on one of the first Cubieboards off the production lines for a pledge of $59, or $69 if you want expedited shipping.

Yes, it costs more than the Raspberry Pi, but it’s got a few nice features that even the recently-refreshed Pi (which now has 512MB RAM and a warranty-friendly turbo mode) lacks. You can clearly see one of them in the photo above — the SATA port, which provides greater storage flexibility. Whereas the Pi limits you to SD or USB-attached drives, you’re free to plug in a speedy SSD or cavernous 2TB hard drive with the Cubieboard.

There’s also an HDMI port at the ready, which makes the Cubieboard a bit like a hackable, customizable version of those Android HDMI sticks that keep popping up. And since it runs an AllWinner A10 processor, you should even be able to run any of the operating systems that enthusiasts have gotten working on devices like the MK802.

Lest you have concerns that the 1GHz clock speed might put a damper on your plans, the Cubieboard team says that’s its a relatively simple task to overclock the chip to 1.2GHz — and that they’ll be posting a guide on how to do it very soon. While it hasn’t gotten as much press as the Raspberry Pi , the Cubieboard certainly looks like a capable alternative and one that’s going to get plenty of support from the community.